No role for clueless NDMA in Valley relief ops
18 Sept 2014 5:45 AM IST
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has yet to lay down the policies, plans and guidelines for ensuring timely and effective response in the state. The sources in the department claimed that no meeting has been convened to manage the situation even after two weeks of calamity and only the armed forces and the NDRF, which report to the Home Ministry, are participating in rescue and relief works.
As per the report, reason behind the inefficiency of this organisation, which is headed by the Prime Minister, has been the absence of leadership after the Vice-Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy with five other members namely KM Singh, KN Shrivastava, JK Bansal, B Bhattacharjee and K Salim Ali, all political appointees had resigned on June 17. The top brass of the authority resigned giving reasons that they were appointed by the Mamnohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and were reluctant to hold the post as the UPA had been ousted from power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
A senior official has revealed that in absence of the top brass, the other officials have become direction-less. No top authority has sought reports about their role during the calamity which has been declared as a ‘national disaster’ by the Prime Minister himself. ‘Presence of NDMA is invisible as no step has been taken yet. Even the official, who looks after Jammu & Kashmir, was ordered to visit the state only after 13 days of the flash flood. The organisation, despite having great experience to manage disasters, has become totally defunct this time as it has no facts and figures regarding the flood,’ disclosed the official requesting anonymity.
The official also added that the organisation is still busy in arranging tents, blankets and medicines from corporate houses while there is immediate need of dry rations, track pants, sanitary pads, chlorine tablets, clothes for children, candles, match boxes, fumigators, torches, milk powder and other articles. There is an urgent need to remove decomposed bodies of animals as they are spreading diseases in area. The officials are totally ignorant this time and the harsh reality is that the floods in Jammu and Kashmir have found no mention on their official website of the NDMA,’ said the official.
As per the report, reason behind the inefficiency of this organisation, which is headed by the Prime Minister, has been the absence of leadership after the Vice-Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy with five other members namely KM Singh, KN Shrivastava, JK Bansal, B Bhattacharjee and K Salim Ali, all political appointees had resigned on June 17. The top brass of the authority resigned giving reasons that they were appointed by the Mamnohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and were reluctant to hold the post as the UPA had been ousted from power in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
A senior official has revealed that in absence of the top brass, the other officials have become direction-less. No top authority has sought reports about their role during the calamity which has been declared as a ‘national disaster’ by the Prime Minister himself. ‘Presence of NDMA is invisible as no step has been taken yet. Even the official, who looks after Jammu & Kashmir, was ordered to visit the state only after 13 days of the flash flood. The organisation, despite having great experience to manage disasters, has become totally defunct this time as it has no facts and figures regarding the flood,’ disclosed the official requesting anonymity.
The official also added that the organisation is still busy in arranging tents, blankets and medicines from corporate houses while there is immediate need of dry rations, track pants, sanitary pads, chlorine tablets, clothes for children, candles, match boxes, fumigators, torches, milk powder and other articles. There is an urgent need to remove decomposed bodies of animals as they are spreading diseases in area. The officials are totally ignorant this time and the harsh reality is that the floods in Jammu and Kashmir have found no mention on their official website of the NDMA,’ said the official.
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